Gemma Atkinson
Gemma Louise Atkinson (born 16 November 1984 in Bury, Greater Manchester) is an English actress, television personality and glamour and lingerie model. Personal life[edit source | editbeta] Originally from Bury, Greater Manchester, Atkinson took her GCSEs at Castlebrook High School before becoming a commercial and photographic model. Atkinson has dated Cristiano Ronaldo and was engaged to Marcus Bent but they have since split up. Gemma has been in a relationship with martial arts instructor Liam Richards since 2009, they got engaged in August 2012 Acting career Atkinson rose to fame playing Lisa Hunter on the Channel 4 teenage soap opera Hollyoaks. Atkinson and Marcus Patric (who played the character Ben Davies) subsequently appeared in a "spin-off" series called Hollyoaks: Let Loose for E4, in which their characters started a new life together in Chester. This was followed by Hollyoaks: In the City, also screened on E4. Atkinson made her debut video game appearance in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008) in the role of Lt. Eva McKenna, which she reprised in Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising (2009). She also took part in EA's "Be The One" event in Trafalgar Square on 29 October 2008, which forms part of the London Games Festival. Atkinson has also played Goldie Lookin Chain's love interest in the music video for the single "R'n'B" and featured on the cover of the CD single release. In theatre, Atkinson appeared in Peter Pan at the Manchester Opera House in December 2008. She took the title role alongside John Thomson who played Captain Hook. Other TV roles included appearing as herself in the pilot for Plus One, part of the pilot series Comedy Showcase in October 2009. In early April 2009 she finished filming for an episode of''The Bill. She plays Ria Crossley the girlfriend of a drug dealer. In film, Atkinson has appeared in the British independent film ''Boogie Woogie, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2009. She has done filming for a forthcoming horror film called 13Hrs in February 2009 and a new UK gangster film called Baseline in March 2009. Atkinson appeared in the West End production of Tim Firth's Calendar Girls at the Noël Coward Theatre, from July 28 to October 17, 2009 where she played the character of Elaine. Atkinson also went on tour with Calendar Girls, she played Celia aka Miss September in the production. The January to April 2010 tour of Calendar Girls also starred Lynda Bellingham, Judith Barker, Debbie Chazen, Letitia Dean and Jan Harvey. Atkinson played the lead female role, Belinda, in Neil LaBute's play This Is How It Goes at The King's Head Theatre in Islington, London from Sept 7th - Oct 3rd 2010. In 2010 she appeared in the film The Sweet Shop, a romantic comedy about a Hollywood superstar and a small town sweetshop owner. She finished filming in Dec 2010 on the romantic comedy How to Stop Being a Loser with Richard E. Grant, Jill Halfpenny and Pamela Anderson produced by 'Press On Features Ltd'.The film is due out in October 2011. At the beginning of May 2011 Atkinson started filming for her part in BBC medical drama Casualty. She played the part of Tamzin, a paramedic. Atkinson appeared onscreen from Sat 13 August 2011, but had confirmed on Twitter that she was only there for 10 weeks (10 episodes). She left the show on 1 October 2011, after her sixth appearance. It has been announced that she is rejoining the series, again playing Tamzin. The premiere of Atkinson's latest film How to Stop Being a Loser took place on 14th Nov 2011. Her upcoming film Airborne is still in post-production. A first version has been displayed at the 2011 The Cannes Film Festival. Atkinson started filming her next project on 2 Dec 2011. It is a remake of Night of the Living Dead, which is to be shot in a 3-D format. She plays Barbara, the main female character. Atkinson finished filming the movie The Dyatlov Pass Incident in March 2012...It is a film directed by Renny Harlin. Atkinson has just started filming for BBC1s Casualty. She was initially on the show for three months last year 2011, but she confirmed via Twitter that she is currently filming new episodes in Cardiff. She's filming until August 2012. Atkinson has just finished filming a Bollywood movie...entitled 'FEVER'... starring Rajeev Khandelwal and is out in Sept 2013...It was produced by Rajeev Jhaveri and is a suspense-thriller set in Switzerland. TV personality Atkinson has appeared as a contestant on reality TV series such as I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, Celebrity Weakest Link (with Marcus Patric) in December 2006, Celebrity MasterChef and ITV's Soapstar Superstar in January 2007. She reached the last four stage of Soapstar Superstar. Songs performed on Soapstar Superstar: *Day 1: "Who Knew" (Pink) *Day 2: "Fields of Gold" (Eva Cassidy) *Day 3: "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" (Arrows) *Day 4: "Love at First Sight" (Kylie Minogue) *Day 5: "You're Still the One" (Shania Twain) *Day 6: "Brass in Pocket" (The Pretenders); Pink Medley: "Just like a Pill"/"Feel Good Time"/"Last to Know" In November 2007, she appeared on ITV in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in Australia, coming fifth in the competition. In January 2008, Atkinson appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, with Marcus Patric. On 15/16 March 2008, Atkinson co-presented the Play.com Live gaming expo at Wembley Stadium with Virgin Radio presenter Iain Lee. Atkinson and her family appeared on All Star Family Fortunes on 20 September 2008, competing against Antony Cotton and his family. The Atkinsons did not win the show; however, Gemma was given £1,000 for her chosen charity. On 12 November 2008, she appeared in Jack Osbourne's ITV2 show Adrenaline Junkie filmed in South Africa. She did a bungee jump, a skydive, a glider flight and swam with great white sharks. Glamour modelling[edit source | editbeta] In early 2006, Atkinson underwent breast enlargement surgery, which took her bra size to a 34E. She said in an interview that she lost weight due to a fitness regimen and her bust size declined and that the surgery then gave them the original size and shape they once had. Since launching her parallel career as a glamour model, Atkinson has appeared in provocative photoshoots in lingerie and swimwear, for men's magazines such as Arena, FHM, Loaded, Maxim, Zoo and Nuts. In October 2006, she appeared in three of the aforementioned magazines in one month, becoming one of the most prolific celebrity glamour models in the UK. She has also released calendars yearly since 2006, with the 2008 and 2009 being shot in Thailand. Since 2006, she has appeared in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list, debuting at number 32 in 2006; following her appearance on the cover of FHM, she moved up to 23 in 2007; rising again to 18 in 2008 and falling to 81 in 2009. She ranked number 46 in AskMen.com's 99 Sexiest Women of 2008. Promotional work[edit source | editbeta] Atkinson has undertaken a wide range of promotional work; she was the female face of the 2007 British Grand Prix and worked for the Orange promotion "On Yer Bike London" prior to the Tour De France. She has also modelled for lingerie brands, including being the face of La Senza and Ultimo's D-G range. She opened Ultimo stores within Debenhams branches in London, Belfast and Glasgow. Charity work[edit source | editbeta] In September 2007, Atkinson did a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) charity run for breast cancer awareness. She embarked upon a 228 kilometres (142 mi) walk along the Great Wall of China in April 2008, as part of a charity event organised by Olivia Newton-John's breast cancer awareness charity. She was joined on her section of the walk by celebrities Marcus Patric and Ant and Dec amongst others. The walk was intended to symbolise the steps cancer patients must take on their road to recovery. Atkinson visited The Home and Garden Show at Chester Racecourse on 5 June 2008 to unveil the room she designed with furniture store owner Arighi Bianchi which would be suitable for teenagers in conjunction with the Teenage Cancer Trust charity. Her room design later won first prize and she collected a trophy for her efforts. It was created in association with Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), the Home and Garden Show's official charity, and the design will now be incorporated into the TCT unit at Christie Hospital, Manchester. Atkinson has also been asked to become a full ambassador for the TCT charity. On 8 January 2009, Atkinson was at Spinningfields in Manchester helping to launch The Great Manchester Run, a 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) run for charity that took place on 17 May 2009. At the launch, she was joined by singer Russell Watson, and actors Anthony Cotton and Britt Ekland. Atkinson ran to raise funds for the New Children's Hospital appeal. She finished the 10k run on 17 May 2009 with a time of 1 hour 6 mins. In May 2010 Atkinson again took part in the Great Manchester Run, she was competing on behalf of Manchester's The Christie hospital. She hoped to beat her time from the previous year's run of 1 hour 6 mins. She ran a time of 57 minutes, beating her 2009 time by 9 minutes. In 2011 she again beat her previous year's time, running 55 minutes. Filmography[edit source | editbeta] Category:1984 births